Tag Archives: Brown Rice

I made a pretty tasty little dish for lunch today. I stopped at Sprouts on the way home from dropping off the kids to just grab a few items, when I saw this Royal Blend by Rice Select on a really great sale. I love the Rice Select brand and this was a new one I’d never tried before. It has light brown rice, red quinoa, and toasted freekeh. Freekeh? What the freekeh is that? I had to look that one up, as it was new to me. Apparently it is young green wheat grains that are toasted and cracked. It has lots of fiber and fairly high protein content. There you go, I love Google! Here’s the article I read to get the info on freekeh if you’d like to read more about it.

Anyhow, I grabbed some bell peppers that were also on sale and headed home to go through my fridge and pantry to figure out what else I could throw in with this for lunch. Here is what I came up with:

Just a few ingredients for this dish. My aunt bought me the hot pepper infused olive oil from Trader Joe’s for Christmas. I was excited to try it out!

Pepper and Honey Brown Rice with Red Quinoa

1 large shallot, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tblsp hot pepper infused olive oil (if you don’t have this you can use regular olive oil instead and add some red pepper flakes if you want the little kick or leave them out if you’d rather not)
1 cup brown rice and red quinoa blend
2 cups chicken broth (I love the Pacific brand from Sprouts, it has so much more flavor than the stuff in a can)
1 or 2 Tblsp honey, to taste
1 tsp Montreal Chicken Seasoning by McCormick (not pictured, I threw it in at the last minute)
Salt and pepper to taste. I didn’t put in any salt at all since there is already some in the seasoning and in the broth, and I didn’t miss it.

In a sauce pan, heat olive oil over medium. If you’re using regular olive oil and red pepper flakes, you should let them gently simmer for a few minutes to really get the flavor going. Then add shallot, bell pepper, and garlic and saute until the shallots and garlic are translucent. Add the rice and broth, stir, and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat and cover. Let the rice cook for about 18 minutes, until all liquid is absorbed. Add honey and Montreal seasoning and stir well to combine. Let it cool for just a few minutes before serving.

That’s it! I think this would be a really good main dish if you added some chicken as well. There really isn’t much heat to it, in my opinion, but I love really hot spicy food, so I may not the best judge if you don’t. Sriracha, anyone?! I hope you enjoy this dish as much as I did!